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JKLF President, Azmat A Khan, addressing a public meeting organized
by the Birmingham branch has
said that JKLF was set to change the history of Kashmir
and the map of Indian sub-continent just as JKLF struggle has changed the
history of independence movement in Jammu Kashmir. He urged the UK Kashmiris to
unite on one platform and strengthen the JKLF movement. He said that a number
of major projects are underway by JKLF at diplomatic level
and for that his organisation was in dire need of funds and asked his
members to donate generously as they had been doing for nearly 3
decades. He said that JKLF leaders will not allow the Kashmiri martyrs blood
waste in vain. He further said that both India
and Pakistan
are intendeing to declare LOC as a international border which will not be
acceptable to Kashmiris on both sides and if their voice was not heard their
movement would take a dangerous turn and all responsibility will lie with those
who are not listening to our peaceful protests.

European MP, Phil Bennion, who was a Chief Guest at the
JKLF’s annual gathering said that Kashmir issue needed to be resolved for
the better relations and peace between India and Pakistan and that a
sustainable solution was to give Kashmiri people in all occupied areas a
chance to decide their future through a internationally supervised referendum.

Other speakers who spoke for UK Kashmiris included
JKLF general secretary Tehseen Gillani, Sabir Gull, Professor Zafar khan,
Choudhary Ashraf khan, Masoom Ansari, Najib Afsar, Mumtaz Mirza and Councillor
Ansar ali. Their main focus was the demand that international
community should come forward and help the Kashmiris to achieve their
right of self determination. Many speakers condemned the Act 74 of AJK
government, which they said was an instrument of slavery for the
nation and stated that Gilgit baltistan was integral part of
Jammu Kashmir so Pakistan should not try to unitlaterally declare it as its
province, which would not only violate the United Nation resolutions on Kashmir
but also give India an execuse to do the same for Ladakh and Jammu They
speakers urged Pakistan government not to back stab the Kashmiri movement. They
warned that Pakistani attempts to declare provincial status for
Gilgit Baltistan would backfire and , JKLF and allies will launch a worldwide
movement across the world against pakistan.

Before this Public meeting JKLF Birmingham Branch election
was held and Choudhry Ashraf khan was elected as President and Javid Iqbal as
General Secretary. Other office bearers are Raja Tika Khan, Adnan Ali Butt,
Qayum Ansari, Waseem Ansari, Nazakat Bhatti, Younis Ansari, Aurangzaib Mirza,
Shoiab Janjua. All the newly elected members took oath and said that they
will carry on working for the Independence of Kashmir and betterment of
Kashmiris.

The JKLF event promoted Kashmiri Culture and folk music was
presented by British born young Kashmiris. Women and children also participated
in the event.

Kashmir’s premier pro-independence party, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
(JKLF) today launched a parliamentary petition to be signed by members of Commons
and Lords during an All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir meeting in London last night. At a meeting chaired by Lord Ahmed, who
himself originates from Kashmir, many Kashmir related issues including the
issue of Kashmir’s unmarked mass graves, forced disappearances and
extra-judicial killings and imprisonment of minors as well as the
constitutional issue of Azad Kashmir including Pakistan’s annexation of
Gilgit-Baltistan territories were debated. It was decide that the APPG would
support the move to launch a parliamentary petition to be sent to the President
of India to ask for the return of mortal remains of Kashmiri independence
leader, Maqbool Butt, who was hanged in Tihar jail in 1984 and buried inside
the jail premises. Indian government has been refusing to return his mortal
remains for burial in Kashmir for all these years. A JKLF delegation led by its president
in UK, Azmat A Khan, gave a briefing at the high level meeting
of members of parliament on several issues and asked for the group to take up action
points. The members of the All Party Parliamentary Kashmir group who signed the
petition during the meeting include, Lord Ahmed, Lord Qurban Hussain (a former leader of JKLF), Sir Gerald
Kaufman MP (Manchester Gorton), David Ward MP (Bradford), Debbie Abrahams MP (Oldham), Gavin Shuker MP (Luton),
Lady Sarah Ludworth (MEP). Another 6 MPs added their names to the petition
later overnight.

A JKLF briefing paper was presented at the meeting,
where members of two international NGOs and other official observers and researchers
were present and took part in discussions as to how to move forward with the
conflict resolution in Kashmir and bring about international political pressure
on both India and Pakistan to honor their pledged for self-determination in
Jammu-Kashmir, which has been pending for 65 years. JKLF president Azmat Khan
and vice president London Cllr Mehmood Husssain stressed to the group that appropriate
action in both houses of UK parliament and with relevant UK ministers was pertinent on the issues of human rights.
The APP group decided to re-double its efforts in seeking permission to take a
fact-finding mission to Kashmir. The JKLF briefing paper quoted several international
reports which highlighted the mass scale abuses of human rights in Indian Held
Kashmir and urged UK government to ban Indian security personnel from entering UK who were accused of involvement in atrocities in
Jammu Kashmir.

JKLF delegation also raised concerns with
constitutional issues in Azad Kashmir assembly elections where pro-independence
candidates are barred from contesting elections and also demanded that
Pakistani government should halt its program of illegally annexing
Gilgit-Baltistan. The issue of Kashmiri ethnic identity in United Kingdom was also raised in the meeting.